China Launches Antitrust Investigation into NVIDIA

NVIDIA acquired Israeli semiconductor manufacturer Mellanox for $6.9 billion (approximately 1 trillion yen) in 2020. It has been reported that Chinese authorities have launched an investigation into the company on suspicion of antitrust violations, alleging that NVIDIA did not comply with the conditions set when approving the acquisition.

Nvidia Faces Antitrust Investigation in China - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/technology/china-nvidia-investigation-antitrust-ai.html

China Targets Nvidia (NVDA) For Potential Breaches of Anti-Monopoly Law - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-09/china-targets-nvidia-for-potential-breaches-of-anti-monopoly-law

China opens an antitrust investigation into Nvidia - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/9/24317016/nvidia-mellanox-antitrust-china-ai-chips

In 2019, NVIDIA announced the acquisition of Mellanox, an Israeli manufacturer of communications infrastructure equipment for data centers. Mellanox was founded as a chip manufacturer in 1999 and became a manufacturer developing end-to-end systems for networks in 2009. NVIDIA's reason for acquiring Mellanox was thought to be to reduce its dependence on the gaming PC market and mining market and to acquire high-speed communications technology.

NVIDIA reportedly acquires Israeli semiconductor manufacturer for more than 655 billion yen, aiming for data center technology and customers - GIGAZINE

By BagoGames

After acquiring Mellanox, NVIDIA announced the 'DGX A100' GPU. At the time of the DGX A100 announcement, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said, 'When you look at how modern data centers are designed, you see that the workloads that have to be processed are more diverse than ever before. Our approach going forward is to think of the entire data center as a computing unit, rather than focusing on the server itself. Going forward, I think the world will think of the data center as a computing unit, and we will think about data center-scale computing. We will no longer just operate personal computers and servers, but at the data center scale.' He spoke about the importance of the Mellanox acquisition.

Since then, demand for AI chips and servers has continued to grow, and NVIDIA, which has focused on the field, has seen its market value increase from less than $200 billion to more than $3 trillion. Finally, NVIDIA's market value exceeds that of well-known large companies such as Microsoft, Apple, and Google.

NVIDIA surpasses Apple to become world's most valuable company - GIGAZINE

In order to avoid NVIDIA's monopoly, Chinese regulators offered NVIDIA a condition when it acquired Mellanox that it provide Mellanox's new product information to other domestic chip manufacturers within 90 days, which the company accepted. However, Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into NVIDIA's failure to comply with this condition.

The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating NVIDIA for alleged antitrust violations.

NVIDIA reports that it has received a subpoena from the Department of Justice due to antitrust concerns, but NVIDIA denies it, saying it has 'inquired with the Department of Justice but has not received a subpoena' - GIGAZINE